We evaluate our camps to ensure that they provide quality programming, with a focus on academic enrichment, social skill development, outdoors and physical recreation, and cultural field trips. Summer Fund camps operate in Greater Boston neighborhoods and are highly diverse, providing a variety of summer opportunities—including neighborhood-based programs, overnight camps, arts and education focused camps, and camps for children with special needs.

Summer Fund camps benefit children and youth by:

Engaging children and youth in safe and enriching summer activities

Providing quality child care options for working parents

Promoting academic enrichment and reinforcing school learning

Encouraging positive relationships, positive values & identity

Offering outdoors and physical recreation activities

Developing important social and life skills

Increasing self-esteem, independence, and leadership skills

Providing teen job opportunities at summer camps

Summer Fund Fact

In 2017, the Summer Fund allocated $980,000 to support over 20,000 disadvantaged and at-risk youth, youth in homeless shelters, and those facing housing insecurities to take part in summer camping, access to cultural and arts activities, and job opportunities for the summer.

Our Impact

The Homeless Campership Fund greatly impacts the lives of the children and families we serve. Attending camp provides the children with an opportunity to participate in a safe, educational, and fun experience that allows them to enjoy being children, free from the worries that accompany living in a domestic shelter environment.

— Asian Taskforce Against Domestic Violence

Random Quote

The Homeless Campership Fund made a significant impact in several children’s lives this summer. The experience of traveling to an environment so different from the sidewalks and alleys they see every day brought energy and enthusiasm back to their eyes. The freedom and independence of the summer camp environment is especially valuable to children that have experienced the powerlessness that can come with being homeless.